Finding a Good Teacher

How do you go about finding a good guitar teacher?

I've tried three in the last six months, and been unimpressed with all of them. They represent very poor value for money in my view Their main qualifications seem to be that they've reached Grade 4 or Grade 5 of the Rock School exams (I'm about to start studying for Grade 2) but that doesn't mean they can teach!

In most cases I seem to be paying £30/lesson every week just for some guy to act like he's my friend and chat about general stuff rather than TEACH me anything. My most recent lessons I've been lucky if we've done anything on guitar for more than 5 minutes! And if I ask anything related to music theory I get answers like "I don' really read music"!

My first instructor, with the benefit of hindsight, was the best. Unfortunately he was quite some distance away so adding two hours onto an hour lesson time on an already busy weekend was a pain. His first "trial lesson" for free was excellent. I got a folder, good notes on correcting bad practices like the way I held my plectrum, the way I was hitting the strings etc and some printed material to practice for the next lesson But as the weeks went on, we seemed to do less and less actual guitar playing or teaching and more and more filler chat about the state of the music industry. It didn't feel like I was getting any real value for money. I had a Rock School exam booked and was told I was already ready for it (which I probably was, as it was just the Debut exam) and that seemed to be an excuse not to encourage me to improve musical theory (which I've always struggled with) try other non-exam pieces etc. The written material I got at the start just sort of dried up.

The second instructor was by far the best player, but he was touring with a musical and so lesson availablility, even though he lived on my doorstep, was very poor to predict. Whole weeks of unavailability were in the calendar. I only had one trial lesson with him. Again, he didn't seem to know how to teach. He'd grabbed a couple of difficult tabs beyond my skill level off the internet and printed them out, but spent most of the lesson showing me what a great player he was. Again, I didn't feel I was being taught anything, other than having someone just watch me as I struggled to learn some new material and being given a couple of downloaded tabs to take home and try and master on my own.

The third instructor had a very impressive web site and some good feedback. A very nice guy, but the least accomplished of all the instructors although uniquely he travelled to you to teach. I think he'd managed Grade 4 and teaching guitar was his full time job, but most lessons have become him chatting about stuff in his personal life and there's very little guitar "tuition". I've had no guidance at all, other than when I ask a direct question (and even then the answer seems to often be a disguised "I don't know but don't worry about it"). Most weeks I just go through playing the stuff ready for the next exam and he says "I think you're ready". No feedback at all on all the bad stuff I'm doing like sounding buzzy notes, hitting strings I'm inadvertently blocking etc unless I specifically mention the problem (and even then, I often get no real answer back). Occasionally he tries to jam along with me as I'm doing exam pieces and is all over the place with bum notes etc so that all it does is throw me off rather than help in any way at all. Again, I feel like I'm paying £30/lesson for a guy to just come round and chat about life in general rather than TEACH me anything. Certainly I'm not being pushed or encouraged in any way.

The cynic in me thinks I could actually pass myself off as a guitar teacher just by getting through my Grade 4 exam and being "chatty" and friendly with potential customers, if this is the state of the market.

I'm sure there are good teachers out there, but how do you find them?

GT is loaded with them. I learned from holding the guitar to playing full songs and more advanced techniques all with GT.

If you are past the fundamentals, I suspect you can get more from this website than from a personal instructor. I took lessons for about a year almost 15 years ago. What I didn't like was he spent the 1/2 hour transcribing a solo and scribbling it in my book, or was scribbling exercises in my book. He could play and was a nice guy, but it felt like a waste of money. He would also plow ahead long before I had gotten down what we had already covered. I eventually lost motivation and stopped.

Here, there are countless songs I can learn. I can learn theory. The instructors are incredibly responsive with any questions you might have. My playing has advanced much more since I've been using this website than when I had a personal instructor. I have 3 younger kids, so I can fit this into my crazy schedule dealing with them.

If you've never touched a guitar before and have no clue, I think it would be better to have a personal instructor. You are long past that though. You also need to be self motivated for this website to work. You get what you put into it...but that's true with personal instruction as well.


If you still want a personal instructor, I think all you can do is talk to people and see if you can find a good recommendation. Otherwise it's just trial and error.

F&F: Wow, your exp with "teachers" is so similar to my own I could sign your post as my own. I'd agree w/Thorn-Maggior in that GT is far, far superior to any in-person teacher (that I've ever met). The resources available today to anyone who wants to learn how to play guitar are overwhelming.

My advice is to take every opportunity you can to play WITH someone who is "better" than you. Every time you do you will take a little something away with you. If you stumble across a Mike Olekshy type (Great player AND great teacher).... bleed'em for every second they will give you! :)

Good Luck